This was the question that sent most in Tamil Nadu tizzy over the last few weeks. The above words in Tamil (“Pulli Raja ku AIDS varuma?”) were the initial teaser in an AIDS awareness campaign launched across TN that appeared in satellite channels, advertisement hoardings etc. Since the ad didn’t contain any message or anything else, it naturally aroused the curiosity of all and sundry – exactly as the advertiser wanted it to be. Blogworld also discussed the above – here, here & elsewhere.

I don’t know whether the said advert has gone to the next stage in the media but Pulli Raja has caught everyone’s fancy, as lot of funny incidents over this have got reported.

– A schoolboy got thrashed by his teacher for raising the above question in the classroom. Later it emerged that of late whenever a teacher encourages the class to raise doubts, naughty pupils ask this question and this has happened at many places in the state.

– There are reports of anonymous phone calls during unearthly hours with the caller asking the above question (Is this part of the ad campaign too? 🙂

To top it all, this question appears beside someone’s name in the Yahoo messenger as he has set his status so. I have hid his name to guard his privacy. Have a look! He is in dire need of an answer, it seems. Looks like this has been one of the successful curiosity-stirring campaigns in the recent memory. Whether it has reached the intended audience or not remains to be seen.